What was dating before smartphone apps like Tinder? Swipe left to eliminate the creeps and swipe right for well, Mr Right. And prior to this, using parameters supplied by you and your Facebook account, Tinder's technology would already have helped you narrow down the potential matches. The more you swipe, the more Tinder learns, and the more efficiently the technology recommends prospective dates. The more you use the app, the smarter and more accurate Tinder gets. But I think the clincher is this: a match only works if both parties have swiped right. Welcome to the world of digital dating!
In Molly Wood's New York Times article (Led by Tinder, a Surge in Mobile Dating), the magic of Tinder as opposed to traditional e-dating sites like OkCupid's lies in the idea that it's "easier, faster and more discreet". With your dating territory expanded to near limitless boundaries and you being able to evaluate potential targets so quickly, surely you'll find a date that much faster. If dating were in fact a primitive expression of human instinct, then smartphone dating apps like Tinder are a reflection of the cyborg nature of humankind in the new millennia. Tinder is a product of the zeitgeist if you ask me.
I would certainly hesitate to decry the usefulness of Tinder though. Contrary to the tales of horror we sometimes hear of e-dating, I do actually have at least two real examples of lady friends meeting really decent dates who then became boyfriends. Tinder was useful for finding that match, and when dating officially began, their respective relationships started with a Tinder-deleting ceremony. Which I think is sweet. What's important to point out is that Tinder aside, both parties took a chance and when it did seem likely, they quickly took the dating into real life.
I would imagine in the city state of Singapore, known to have the highest smartphone penetration rate in the world, most singles would probably have used, are using or plan to use Tinder. For the aspiring smart nation of the world, digital dating could plausibly be something to push for. Tinder like apps do seem to resolve the problem of young Singaporeans simply not having the time to date, and of course, get married and make babies. Perhaps the Singapore Development Network should consider developing its own customised version of the app for Singaporeans!
Having said that, I do wonder what all this means for society at large. In the Tinder-fied dating universe, what changes about the way romantic hearts relate? And, to what extent are these changes desirable? While I do find the idea of never having to deal with rejection a very attractive proposition, I also recognise that that also makes acceptance that much more precious. There is definitely something to be said of seeing what you want and having the courage to take full ownership of one's desires by acting on it. True, one acts on desire by swiping, but that isn't quite the same as walking up and engaging in the time honoured old art of seduction.
Then again, is it all that bad? All perspectives are spoken from some vantage point and that is certainly true of the New York Times article I cited earlier. If you think about it, dating has never been a indigenous concept in Asian cultures anyway, even though now it appears to be the universal norm. For Chinese families up till the early part of the 20th century, the tedium of dating was usually outsourced to professional matchmakers (and of course the parents who were the ones who made the decision). Up till today, it is still common in some ethnic communities in Singapore for parents to arrange one's marriage. If anything, Tinder's just doing what matchmakers and parents in Asia have been doing for centuries. Dating itself is an alien concept.
I would certainly hesitate to decry the usefulness of Tinder though. Contrary to the tales of horror we sometimes hear of e-dating, I do actually have at least two real examples of lady friends meeting really decent dates who then became boyfriends. Tinder was useful for finding that match, and when dating officially began, their respective relationships started with a Tinder-deleting ceremony. Which I think is sweet. What's important to point out is that Tinder aside, both parties took a chance and when it did seem likely, they quickly took the dating into real life.
I would imagine in the city state of Singapore, known to have the highest smartphone penetration rate in the world, most singles would probably have used, are using or plan to use Tinder. For the aspiring smart nation of the world, digital dating could plausibly be something to push for. Tinder like apps do seem to resolve the problem of young Singaporeans simply not having the time to date, and of course, get married and make babies. Perhaps the Singapore Development Network should consider developing its own customised version of the app for Singaporeans!
Then again, is it all that bad? All perspectives are spoken from some vantage point and that is certainly true of the New York Times article I cited earlier. If you think about it, dating has never been a indigenous concept in Asian cultures anyway, even though now it appears to be the universal norm. For Chinese families up till the early part of the 20th century, the tedium of dating was usually outsourced to professional matchmakers (and of course the parents who were the ones who made the decision). Up till today, it is still common in some ethnic communities in Singapore for parents to arrange one's marriage. If anything, Tinder's just doing what matchmakers and parents in Asia have been doing for centuries. Dating itself is an alien concept.
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